For the eight young men in the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, “brotherhood” is literal: they’re all sons of anti-establishment jazz legend, Phil Cohran. Cohran and their mothers raised them together on Chicago’s South Side on a strict diet of jazz, funk and Black Consciousness. Family band practice began at 6 AM.

Now grown, as they raise eight brass horns to the sky, they make music that is at once indescribably joyful, unremittingly exciting, and undeniably together. But as the brothers try to make their own way in the wide world—while playing in the streets of New York City, collaborating with Mos Def, or wowing a jazz festival—they find the values their father bred into them constantly tested. They must decide whether his principles really are their own.

Brothers Hypnotic is a coming of age story, for eight brothers, and for an ideal.

Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns performing "'Lectric Chair Blues" (which she describes as "My favorite love song") live in the KEXP studio in Seattle on May 29, 2014. You can catch them this Sunday, August 2, at Satchmo SummerFest.

Satchmo SummerFest features local music with a focus on contemporary and traditional jazz and brass bands. The festival happens in New Orleans the first weekend of each August, coinciding with the anniversary of Louis Armstrong's birthday (August 4). This year, the festival is taking place between July 31 and August 2.